But First, Breakfast with Mindfully Moni

We love celebrating the very best from the foodies in our community, who inspire us with their delicious and drool-worthy creations on a daily basis. On the foodie spotlight, we share with you an insight into the person behind the inspirational recipes and mouth-watering Instagram posts. Don’t forget to check out our Recipe sharing group to keep up to date with the wonderful creations from our community!

My name is Moni and I’m a London-based student with a passion for healthy eating. I am currently a first-year Historian at Cambridge University. In my spare time, I enjoy experimenting with ingredients to create wholesome recipes. As a student, I use food not only to nourish and energise me, but to maintain my general health, maximise concentration levels, boost immunity as well as enhance my overall focus and performance.

As a passionate health foodie, I strive to share my enthusiasm for nutritious eating. This is why I launched my food blog featuring healthy recipes and reviews of wholesome products. On my blog, I share recipes that are nutrient-dense and balanced, whilst being super yummy, satisfying and decadent. There has recently been a negative social stigmatisation emerging about healthy eating; that it is unvaried, really hard to maintain and revolves around salad – Mindfully Moni is all about celebrating the natural, wholesome foods which are available to us, and creating delicious recipes with nourishing ingredients that your body will love you for!

My favourite hangout is of course my kitchen but, when not experimenting with ingredient combinations, I can also be found dancing to the latest tunes, cycling or finding my next good read!

A wholesome foodie

As a wholesome foodie, I am fully aware of all the diet crazes which have overtaken the health food market – whether it’s the Juice Diet, Atkins Diet, 801010, ABC Diet etc.! However I think it’s very restrictive and unhealthy – and borders on orthorexia – to limit oneself to a particular diet programme. Therefore, personally, I believe that to lead a healthy lifestyle – where one can be fully energised and enjoy life as much as possible – one must eat from each of the food groups in moderation and in the recommended ratio. Having said this, I do tend to choose ‘healthier’ options such as a nutritious breakfast – consisting of a delicious bowl of oatmeal – rather than a fry-up, brown bread over white or fish over red meat (I’m pescetarian anyway). But I most certainly don’t cut out fats from my diet because they are absolutely vital to maintaining normal body functioning (which people tend to forget!), so I source my essential, ‘good’ fats from foods such as avocado and peanut butter… Essentially, to use the cliché, I have a ‘balanced’ dietary lifestyle – but I actually mean that it is balanced between the food groups and isn’t extreme or restrictive.

My favourite recipe is…

I have so many different categories of recipes on my blog that it’s difficult to choose just one, plus my cravings/ preferences will depend on the time of day and the mood I’m in! But if I had to pick an all-time favourite, I guess it’d have to be my Mille Crepe with a Banana-Peanut-Yacon Syrup Stack recipe. There are so many reasons why I love love love this recipe! Firstly, because it’s probably the most delicious pancake recipe I have ever tasted and created – in my view it has the most perfect flavour combination: chocolate, peanut butter and sweet syrupy goodness <3 Secondly, it is a fool-proof recipe which anyone can whip up with ease – there’s nothing complicated about it! Thirdly, it’s a very versatile recipe – absolutely perfect to indulge in for a weekend brunch, post-dinner treat shared with a loved one or a pick-me-up lunch after a workout in the gym 🙂 Lastly, you can make it for anyone and it’s a guaranteed winner – I am yet to come across someone who hasn’t enjoyed these; and I’ve made this meal for a number of friends/ family members (and it’s one of the most popular posts on my blog)!